FILM REVIEW; Bones Will Pop, but He's No Chiropractor

By JEANNETTE CATSOULIS

Published: October 28, 2006

The ''Saw'' franchise rasps on with ''Saw III,'' a deadening barrage of grungy rooms, mortified flesh and elaborate torture. This time Jigsaw/John Kramer (Tobin Bell), the masked sadist whose fondness for men in chains continues unabated, has decided to play marriage counselor to a couple whose young son has been killed in a car accident.

Since Jigsaw is currently laid low by a brain tumor, his torture-as-therapy program requires the assistance of Amanda (Shawnee Smith), a sidekick who slices her own thighs when no one else's are handy. Amanda probably spent a lot of time in her teens writing to men on death row.

Having learned the (knotted) ropes on ''Saw II,'' 27-year-old Darren Lynn Bousman returns to direct, while James Wan and Leigh Whannell push their original story to new depths of monstrousness. Joining the pantheon of stomach-churning devices is a rack that twists one's extremities until the bones pop out, and an abattoir-inspired scenario involving deliquescent pigs is enough to make you long for the comparatively benign stenches of John Waters's Odorama.

The most depressing thing about this series is not the creativity of the bloodletting but the bleak view of human nature, specifically our talent for ruining the present to avenge the past. In the opening scene, a man frees himself from an ankle restraint by pulverizing his foot with a brick; fortunately, all we have to do is get up and leave.

''Saw III'' is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). It is obscene in every regard.

Saw III
Opened yesterday nationwide.

Directed by Darren Lynn Bousman; written by Leigh Whannell, based on a story by James Wan and Mr. Whannell; director of photography, David A. Armstrong; edited by Kevin Greutert; production designer, David Hackl; produced by Gregg Hoffman, Oren Koules and Mark Burg; released by Lionsgate. Running time: 107 minutes.